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Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

yeah, but i could argue that a mazdaspeed car is just a tuner out-of-the-box.

does the white eye look good, or is it distracting? i thought the original eye was yellow, though... no?

I was under the impression that a tuner had to be aftermarket-modified.

The clear "white" eye doesn't look bad, but it's not outstanding either, just kinda "there", kinda plain. It's true to the G1 figure's eye I suppose (although the G1 does look a little yellow where this is most definitely not), but it's just not that cool IMO.

Good pic on the Tuner, though there are even worse ones on my block.

Tuners are these Japanese sedan class and other relatively non-sporty bland cars that get a bunch of junk tacked on for performance and looks. San Diego isn't far enough away from LA to not have any, so I can't imagine you not having seen at least a dozen in your city Tycho.

I picked up Galaxy Force Skids last week and Autolander & Gasket this week, and I only noticed today that none of them have sculpted or painted faction symbols anywhere on them. Their force chips have the planet symbols, but they're generic chips so no factions. This reminds me of RID, where the Autobot brothers had only hidden faction symbols so when Hasbro released them in the US they tampographed symbols onto them. I can see where Gasket (US name: Ransack) might get one, on either the top or sides of his gas tank (if on the top, it'd split in half when making the shoulders), but I don't see anywhere on Skids (US name: Clocker) could get one unless it's slapped over the detail sculpting on his chest or hood, or perhaps across his windshield, and Autolander (no idea US name) only has room for small ones on his shins or a REALLY tiny one somewhere on his chest. Might Hasbro end up following Takara's lead and not giving them faction symbols?

Here's what I got yesterday...

Energon Blight - Hasbro went twistie-crazy on this one, a stupid amount of these things, one of which seems to have damaged the tread piece in-package by keeping it mistransformed thus stressing the connector (now it comes off easily). The yellow and black colorscheme brings nothing to the table unlike his recolor brother Kickback, if Kickback is a grasshopper I guess Blight is supposed to be a weevil or something, but the colors don't work here, it's like a little kid pounding on the keyboard of a piano, there's sound but not music. The original colors of this mold are 10 times better, this use is a letdown.

Energon Blackout - More ridiculous numbers of twisties. This recolor is the saviour of the mold after the misery that was Electric Kool-aid... er, I mean, "Stormcloud". Dark gray and purple work very well together here, very Decepticon-y. The gold is an ok accent but not really the best note, good use on the vents though; the light blue is pointless and sloppily-applied but scarce enough to not matter that much. The purple holding the energon weapon together works much better than orange on the original, but I still don't think the weapon looks good with vehicle mode. With this, I have the final piece to the Bruticus Maximus puzzle, which unfortunately doesn't look all that great thanks once again to Stormlcoud's horrid color.

Galaxy Force Gasket - I am a sucker for motorcycle toys, so I caved and bought this one. Red color doesn't really work for me here, and is very un-evil for a Decepticon; dull gold and silver accents just don't bring anything to the table. Vehicle is a large basic, he's an overly-long, lanky, sorta-gappy, futuristic motorcycle with very little in the way of details; wheels are translucent red, flat and wide enough to stand the bike up. Force Chip weapon is oversized here and beyond pointless. Transformation is quite clever, but is too limited by being a basic, a deluxe or mega would make better use of this tf scheme though. Bot mode is tiny, only as tall as a Star Wars figure (3.75") and that's with the tall toe and heelspurs; shoulders are too low and large, out of proportion; and to top it off there's that weird kibbly section behind the head. Legs are thin "big boots", rear wheel is just kibble on the sides of the legs, and front wheel is hanging off the back I suppose as a jump-jet thruster or something (if you're feeling generous). Torso is sparsely detailed, head is red and shaped like it's wearing a hat, face is simple silver with a smirk and green eyes (which are painted over red light-piped eyes, you can get this to show through a little under the right conditions) surrounded by black. Posture is very strange indeed and tiny heel/toe situation makes it worse. Articulation is good at neck, shoulders, inner side-"flap" shoulders, ball-jointed elbows, standard waist (able to bow forward thanks to tf scheme), ball hips, and ball knees. Weapon is an oversized nothing-gun, and force-chips into a very bland twin-fork gun. Bottom line, fairly disappointing all around, at least the US name sounds better for a Decepticon, "Ransack".
Galaxy Force Autolander - from the second I left him behind last week, I regretted it, so I went back and got him yesterday. Vehicle mode is a standard-sized basic that seems smaller due to small front end; massive rear end with huge wheels tapers down to a small cockpit and tiny sled-like front end, very effective "fast" look. Black, gray, and translucent yellow work very well together, there is also a very dark metallic accent paint here and there which brings a little extra flavor to the table. Rear end is a high-tech engine, top of the fig's head sticks up as an intake, front end has weapon acting as another techy bit. Of the 3 GF basics I have so far, only one that can't use or stow force chip in vehicle mode. Transformation is simple but somehow not boring. Bot mode is another shorty that's SW-figure height (and not Chewie either, but Luke), yet he's got great dimensions almost bordering on Gundamness and a very powerful look with plenty of details. Articulation is decent with neck, limited-ball shoulders, ball elbows, semi-limited waist (depends on if you move the back part or not), ball hips, ball knees, and hinged-for-tf ankles; the ankles are a little too loose for some poses. The shoulders are so high that bringing the arms up too high looks odd, and the forearms are really stubby, but he still looks really cool. Head is very gundam-like except for large chinstrap/beard which seems out of place, eyes are yellow light-pipe but because there's so much translucent yellow at the shoulders and above the head, it doesn't seem as impressive. Weapon can be stowed on back, and is another "nothing-gun" until force-chipped, then it becomes a nifty sword/gun thing. Bottom line, the front-end of vehicle mode is unorthodox but Autolander rules and with his dark colors and no faction symbol is almost more believable as a Decepticon.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Incidently, my Transformers are all in vehicle mode and have been for a while.

I have:

Optimus
Sideswipe
Smokescreen
Hound
Tracks
Meister

I transformed Tracks into his robot mode and thought I'd check him out that way for a while. I don't want to transform him back. Tracks' bot looks waaay cool and while we're talking Alternators here, I loved Tracks back in the G1 days as well. What is it with him? I don't know, but I really like the guy.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

Um, okay, does this "Shockblast" really exist? I normally have no problem finding any Alternators, but he's eluded me for some time. I keep seeing the Energon character by the same name sitting beside the Alternators, getting all giddy, and being disappointed.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

Shockblast is being shipped 1 per case as I understand it, with *more* Swindles (like we needed that) and Battle Ravages which means stores aren't likely to put these on shelves. I think Shockblast is pretty awesome for an Alternator, he's got a great color and just works really well in both modes.

BTW, I held Shocko's head up to the light, it turns out the eye is in fact very lightly colored yellow. So strange.

I went to pick up Energon Energon Strongarm and Offshoot in the bonus 2pack at TRU because I decided I liked them enough to buy, and next to them was Bonecrusher, the final piece of the Constructus Maximus Dopius Namus figure. I like the colors here, they seem a little more realistic for a jobsite machine than the green they often use. The combined figure is a little knock-kneed, but the color pallette works well together, better than Bruticus Maximus. It's still not as cool a combiner as Bruticus in terms of shapes, but waaaay better than Superion Max in that department.

And I'm glad I got E-Strongarm and Offshoot, Offshoot looks more military than Signal Flare and E-Strongarm looks like he belongs with my Galaxy Force Skids.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

Kylo Ren - came from Space Brooklyn, although he moved to Space Williamsburg before it was trendy.

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.